One Crazy Alternate Fairytale
by Someonerandome
Summary: discontinued...for now. Sequel to Another alternate cinderella story. Timid dragons, Talking compasses with no sense of direction, annoying Damsels...what does it all mean? Chrys is Back!
1. Chapter 1

Summary: Mages, dragons, annoying damsels and pompous wind-bags? This can only mean one thing…Chrys is back!

Author's Note: _I decided to try re-posting this, see if it does better now. Ok first time readers of my attempts at "original" fiction(and previous readers too) A couple things before we start. First, I LOVE getting reviews and please, if I'm bad, just say it (but if you ARE going to say that, please follow up with a suggestion on how I can improve) Be warned, I scrapped this story before because nobody reviewed, but since I have recently gotten a few requests for a sequel I'm putting it back up. Second, I'll be honest I'm terrible at updating, but it is because I am really busy, particularly right now and I am trying very hard to improve. _

_**Oh, something about the characters! First, after re-reading the Original, I see that I actually made Chrys the average height for a woman (5'4) by mistake. She is 5'2 and Ella 5'1½. There are also new characters to be introduced, which you will meet soon. **_

~Intro~

**_Once upon a time in a kingdom far, far away…_

_**What are you doing here? We talked about this. You aren't telling MY stories! **_

_Well excuse me for doing my job! I AM a narrator after all!_

_**Not anymore. You're fired. Tell someone else's story. I don't want this tale twisted around so that somehow Sherry is the bad guy just because she has magic or that I'm some ugly hag because I didn't get married as soon as I was capable of bearing children. Now OUT! **_

_Humph! I just get No respect these days!_

_**Phew. Now that that's taken care of…lets continue.** **_

**Chapter One- Party Crashers and Late Guests **

It was a beautiful day for the official naming of the realm's new baby princess. Queen Eleanor, known as Ella to her friends and family, and her husband King Conrad were practically glowing with happiness. They were planning on naming their daughter after Ella's mother-Aria. She had wanted to name her after her sister, but Chrys had threatened (if in jest) to disown her if she "forced the name onto another innocent girl" or something. Personally, Ella liked the name, but her sister always had been…eccentric to say the least. Then again, Chrys might even have liked her name if some of those snobs hadn't always gone on about her having the "name of a gem, but the attitude of a-" and inserted a whole number of different things after that letter that were very demeaning to her free spirit.

Instead they had named the princess Aria Rose. Everyone had been invited and a feast was to be held, and no one in the kingdom, not even the lowliest of beggars were to be excluded on royal proclamation. The guest list was certainly impressive, just as it had been for the two princes. A whole manner of royalty and fairies from other realms had shown up for the party, everyone was there! Well, almost everyone. Someone was very conspicuous in their absence and the Queen wasn't the only one who had noticed. The king's cousin Derrick also seemed disappointed that the Princes' favourite (and only) Aunt wasn't there. Conrad noticed his queen's distress as she scanned the audience for a certain someone from her position behind the archway.

"She'll be here. Don't worry." He told her gently

"I know. I just hope she isn't late." She replied.

"She's always made it before." He reminded her with a smile that she returned. Just then the trumpets sounded, signalling them to start walking down the red carpet.

"Alright boys, come on." Conrad said, ushering them forward. They were to precede their parents. Ella was going to carry the baby until they got to the little crib by the thrones. Everyone bowed as their monarchs walked past, each giving the occasional nod to a row of people or a cordial smile as they walked down. They climbed the steps to the little pavilion that held the two thrones, two smaller chairs for the princes and a crib for the princess.

Ella gently placed her newborn into the crib and then sat down in her opulent golden chair. First came the presenting of the gifts from the fairies. They always came first since in general they were very busy people---or creatures in some cases. However, just before the procession began the King beckoned the Royal Chamberlain over

"You didn't invite…**her** did you?" he murmured

"Oh no, Majesty!" the skinny man said "No, no evil witches will disgrace this gathering by invitation!"

"Good. Just in case, make sure the guard is on alert." The King hissed just as the first fairy approached. This was a stout little elderly lady with a round and cheery face.

"I bestow the gift of beauty on little princess. Lords and Ladies everywhere will admire her." As she said this she waved her wand around over the crib and pink stardust rained down on her harmlessly.

The next one stepped forward then, or rather fluttered. She was quite small and had beautiful butterfly wings that were larger then her body as well as pointed ears.

"My gift shall be the gift of kindness. May she ever be gentle and kind-hearted" Light blue sparks fell then. It went on like this through around 4 more fairies, each bestowing a wonderful- and boringly traditional- gift: Patience, the voice of an angel, loyalty to her parent yaddy yadda yadda. However, just before the last fairy, Lucinda (_who had been Ella's godmother_) could come to give her gift- a black mist crept up amongst the seats and guests. There was a great deal of screaming and confusion when with a thunderous boom and a crack of black lightening and the most intimidating creature that the Royal couple had ever seen appeared.

"Malicia!" Derrick exclaimed.

Malicia was the most notorious Witch in the realm. She was one of the few who was considered evil to the bone even by her fellow magical creatures! She was even dressed for it with a black gown and cloak trimmed with dark purple and blood-red. Her face was deathly white and her eyes resembled a snake's in the fact that there were no whites and slit pupils. Right now they were blood red with black pupils, which matched her lips-those were painted dark red with a black stripe down the middle and (_of course_) black eye shadow with purple lashes (_though how they'd gotten that way, none of the audience could figure out and were all to terrified to ask_)

The first thing the evil diva did was shut and lock all the gates and exits. She then rounded on the royal family. The two princes were hiding behind their mother's skirts and their father held his wife tightly and protectively.

"You DARE!" she boomed, (quite literally, her voice seemed to be magnified somehow) "You **DARE** not invite _**ME**_?"

"Why would they?" Derrick asked loudly as he unsheathed his sword. Malicia laughed cruelly, pointed at him and hissed a few words. Black snake-like ropes shot from her finger and bound him from head-to-toe, also gagging him. At that same moment several other creatures appeared at Malicia's side, snarling and snapping.

Then the witch turned back to the King and Queen, then down to the little baby in the crib who had started wailing. In a heartbeat Ella wrenched herself from her husband's protective grasp and snatched her baby out of the tiny bed, clutching the infant to her.

"I too have something to bestow upon the little Princess. After all, what's life without a few roadblocks?" Malicia purred. However as she raised her hands to work some more magic, a glittering white lasso caught her wrist and went taught as the roper yanked it, pulling their captive down the stairs to land on her back with a yell of fury

"I know what you mean about the roadblocks," said a hooded figure as she stood over her and pulled off her hood…

"But I'm afraid I just can't allow you to go around cursing my niece." A petite woman with shoulder-length blonde hair who could have been the Queen's double said in a mockingly polite voice.

"You insolent little…" Malicia started as she got to her feet

"Oh, bring it on!" The Heroine shot back, motioning with her hands for her adversary to show her what she could do. Then the witch suddenly stopped, and looked to be sizing her up.

"No. Why would I waste my time on you?" she laughed as she sent a tidal wave of black magic which looked to engulf the hero---or _heroine_. However, after a moment a light flared from inside the beneath to cloud of black smoke and The Queen's sister was twirling a glittering shield.

"Oh please. An engulfment hex? Ha! You'll have to better than that. I mean come _on_ that move is showy, but pa-thetic! Then again, that seems to sum you up rather well." She said, circling around and looking at the sorceress with a critical eye and a bored expression. "Let's see: Glamoured forked tongue and slitted eyes," she sniffed the air "Sulphur and brimstone perfume, with…ooo-is that a hint of peppermint?"

'Yes I got it cheap from a travelling merchant." The witch said lightly.

"How cheap?"

"Let's just say, I got his supplies and he got to keep his life, if not his shape." She replied, patting the head of one of the creatures.

"Ach! Transfiguration! Does this witch not have any new tricks?" a new voice with a heavy Scottish accent asked dryly.

"Hey!" exclaimed another new voice indignantly; this one clearly female.

Everyone looked up to the sky to see two people sitting on a flying carpet. One was small and had reddish brown hair and beard whilst the other was an exotic-looking woman with dark skin and a band with dangling jewels and coins across her forehead.

"Sorry, sorry, _evil_ witch. Happy?" The dwarf shot back at the woman.

"Not really, but I suppose we should get on with it." She replied

"Hey! You two! _**Slowpokes**_! Down here!" Chrystal yelled up. With an inquiring shrug she demanded "What took you so long?"

"Well **someone** just _**had**_ to hit the out-house first." The woman called down, throwing the dwarf a dirty look

"Have you EVER ridden this thing? It's worse then being on a boat in a hurricane!" the Dwarf argued. Just then Malicia decided to attack again and the girl on the ground had to throw up the shield once more.

"Well just a little help would be useful here!" she called back up.

"You know I think you can handle it." The woman said teasingly as she played with one of the many charms attached to her colourful outfit.

"Normally I'd agree with you," the hero started, slashing at one of the creatures as it approached her, "Except that having one's attention divided really extends the take-down time and these people want to get back to their party." She said pointing a thumb at the royal family then added, "Plus I kind of want to be in one piece as I go on about how my nephews have grown."

"Wait a moment." Malicia stated, momentarily halting her attack "You're HER sister?" she asked, pointing at Ella. Everyone looked around with comical expressions of confusion at the Witch's question. By this time they were quite enjoying the scene which was actually providing good entertainment.

"Um, not meaning to sound rude," the girl on the carpet said as they glided down to the ground, the dwarf took over and continued

"But, come on! You don't see the family resemblance? Queen Eleanor, Chrystal the Heroine, twins…ringing _any_ bells?" Malicia looked at one of her creatures and they both shrugged.

"Ah well, no matter. Shall we continue?"

"Yes lets. Except, change of dance partners. You take her Sherry. Let's wrap this up quickly." Then turning to the fairies she said sarcastically, "Feel free to lend a hand at _any_ time!"

"We can't. We used up our powers for the day and Lucinda needs to save her magic." The little one with the wings said. The heroine rolled her eyes. They could be so useless sometimes.

After that they were finished pretty quickly. Sherry, the good Sorceress, had Malicia defeated and locked up in record time; Chrys untied Derrick and then helped the dwarf, Humphrey round up the creatures. In traditional fashion as soon as the evil "Witch" was defeated and locked into a little mini-cage her spells all broke.

"Hey! My old staff!" One of the fairies exclaimed as the black "stick of death" or whatever Malicia had called it turned into a charming little work of mahogany with an emerald at the center. The winged Fairy Godmother fluttered up to take it and Humphrey started stammering.

"I was wondering where that had disappeared to." She muttered. The Sorceress and Chrys groaned as the red-bearded dwarf tried to flirt and ended up stammering incoherently.

"Come on lover-boy." The heroine's female companion told him, dragging him by the ear over to the large table and their seats. Their partner in the mean time blew her hair out of her eyes, turned to her relatives with a wide, brilliant, but also sheepish smile that screamed oh-I-know-I'm-going-to-get-it-now look on her face and said brightly

"Sorry I'm late."

_**A.N: I know I haven't introduced the two new characters very well in this. I started out an introduction for them, but it just got too long winded. Don't worry; they'll get introduced/explained. **_


	2. Chapter 2

_**A.N: Expect one of these in every chapter. I like them. Anyhow, 1**__**st**__** person switch. I'll try to keep it clear when I switch narrators. Also, please review people. If there are typos, I appologise. I have a commentary to finish which means I didn't have a lot of time to proofread. i will probably come back later.**_

I walked over to my spot at the long dining table with a wink at my nephews and an apologetic smile at my sister. She hates it when I'm late. Therefore I don't think I'll tell her that I WAS actually here on time for once…Well, sort of. I just made it in through the doors before they closed

However, a nasty rumour had gone around that dear, sweet (_and incredibly naive_) King Conrad had not invited the "Dark Lady" Malicia to the party. As you've read already, that was a bad idea (_yes it is rather contrary to common sense isn't it_?). The reason WHY this is such a stupid move is because of the witch's record. Malicia had made several attempts to conquer the kingdom and had been foiled each time. The last time she had been captured the M.L.E (_**M**__agical __**L**__aw __**E**__nforcement_) had put the restriction on her that she was not to go near the palace unless properly provoked. They even gave her a list. Sadly, among that list (_on_ _her specific request_) was not being invited to a naming of a newborn Royal. So you see, I'm pretty ticked with my dear Brother in Law at the moment because I **know** for a _fact_ that Lucinda (_Me and Ella's Godmother_) GAVE him a copy of the list! Besides, if he'd just sent the damn invitation she would have taken one look at the envelope, thrown it in the fire and promptly forgotten about it. That's how all these villains work. They're such drama queens. Invite them to a party and they ditch you, but forget their name and suddenly they are dying to come. Lucinda knows this fact as well as we in the hero-business do.

In fact, it was her idea to stay in the shadows for a few minutes until most of the fairies had given their gifts. (_That's another "tradition" that I don't really like, but we can talk about that later_.)

After everybody had returned to their seats the ceremony resumed. Lucinda stepped forward with a nod toward the royal couple and then said with a smile

"Seeing as my magic won't be required to reverse or lessen an evil curse…I present the gift of a sharp and keen mind upon the young princess." Ella and Conrad thanked her cordially for her gift, although there were disconcerted murmurings throughout the crowd. I however, openly clapped along with the fairies and rolled my eyes at the attitude of many of the guests. So what if the gift was "unconventional"? It was certainly more useful than some of the other stuff! I mean come on, apart from a concert hall, where exactly is the 'Voice of an Angel' going to take the little kid? Thanks to her Royal status, it isn't as though she can go into a career in music!

From my spot near the Royal couple I was seated next to Derrick, I guess you could say he's my boyfriend. We've been "together" on and off, but going pretty steady again for a while now. We quickly hugged as I grinned

"Hello stranger." And he replied

"Now have I seen you somewhere before?"

Anyway, after the formalities were done the dancing and mingling began.

Sherry, Humphrey (my partners) and I made our way over to the Royal family to say 'hello' and 'how has the kingdom been' and all that jazz. When we were about halfway there, there was a cry of "Auntie Chrissie!" just as two blurs of colour ploughed into me.

"Hello to you two!" I wheezed as I tried to disentangle myself from my nephews. "Well then, let's have a look at you." Conrad jr. and Ricky grinned up at me and stood at mock attention. I sighed.

"Well, look's like I'm shrinking again!" I said exasperatedly before swooping them into a bear-hug. After saying hello to my nephews I turned to my sister and gave her a hug and shook Conrad Sr's hand and began chatting and catching up.

We were having a very nice conversation when Humphrey appeared at my elbow and hissed up to me

"A.S.B.D #1 at 12 o' sundial"

"What?!" I squeaked and looked around. Sure enough, there she was. Upon seeing the detestable creature I hissed a curse in a foreign tongue before diving behind the large potted shrub shaped like a giant swan and crouched there, peeking through the legs. Humphrey did the same.

"Where's Sherry when you need her?" We mumbled in unison. Ella looked down at me with an expression of utter confusion.

"What's an A.S.B.D?"

"An annoying, spoiled, bit-" I clamped my hand over my partner's mouth before he could swear in front of the kids. That wasn't actually what the 'B' stood for either (_As if I'd insult my own dog with comparison to those ninnies_!)

"It stands for 'Annoying Spoiled-rotten, _Bratty_ Damsel-in-distress." I said, eyeing the "princess" in question warily. I wondered how I could avoid her without it being too obvious. (_Not that I'D care if it was obvious, but my dear sister would be embarrassed_)

'Why would you need Sher-Sher Auntie?" Rick asked in that cute little 2-year-old whisper. The boys were crouching with us thinking this was a jolly good game.

"We want 'Sher-Sher' because she's good at scarin' the brat away!" Humphrey told them. Unfortunately though, it looked as if SHE was headed towards my sister to talk with her.

In case you are wondering, 'She' in this case means a girl named Blance de Niege. Translate the name into 'common tongue'- White Snow. Common-tongue Grammar: Snow White. Humphrey and I saved her from a rockslide once, and have since lived to regret it! That little brat is the most ungrateful, unprincipled, selfish, spoiled, no-good, rotten, lying (_okay you get it. I don't like her_) self-absorbed little diva on the planet!

"Why hello there you're Majesty!" she simpered

"Greetings Mistress Neige." Ella replied cordially. "How are you doing?" She clearly had more patience than I did.

"OH, I'm doing marvellously! Henry and I are all set for our coronation! You will be attending won't you?" Oh god, poor little Ella. My sister smiled, though I could tell it was a strained smile.

"Of course." She managed to get out. "However, if it is soon, we will not be able to say for very long. My little daughter is still quite delicate and I do not wish to be apart from her for too long in case she should need her mother."

"Oh but you could just hand her off to one of the nannies. After all, you have more important social duties to attend to."

Over in my hiding spot with Humphrey I clapped my hand over my mouth to keep from laughing

"Unnn nnnnnh! She's in for it now!" I somehow managed to giggle. You see Ella takes her motherhood VERY seriously. In fact, if it came down to a choice between ANYTHING and her children, I think even her dear Conrad and I would be in for a run for his money!

"I do not know what your priorities are." She said icily, "But for Conrad and me, our children, our _Heirs,_ **always** come before parties." And with that she turned and stalked off toward the golden crib where her newborn had started to cry.

Meanwhile my partner and I deemed it safe to get to our feet and return to the festivities (_that and apparently my friend has a very tiny bladder and had to "go") _However, at that precise moment the ground began to shake and I heard a shrill scream (_probably from that primping ninny, Blanche_) and whipped around, sword already unsheathed and ready to fight again when suddenly… … … … …


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, well my reason for not updating is simple. A: Writer's block. B: Busy scheduele and C: Writers blcok again, on another story as well. **

**Now, to those Celebrating Christmas, MERRY CHRISTMAS! To those who light the minora for eight days, Happy Chanuka (Is that spelled right? Please tell me), to everyone celebrating Kwanza, happy Kwanza, and to other holidays going on around now, happy holidays.**

From Previous Chapter:

_However, at that precise moment the ground began to shake and I heard a shrill scream (probably from that primping ninny, Blanche) and whipped around, sword already unsheathed and ready to fight again when suddenly… … … … …_

…the HUGE head of a water-dragon emerged over the wall, water dripping from its scales. It shrieked and recoiled back at the sight of the "pointy things" pointed at him, jostling his very pretty passenger. I laughed and sheathed my sword, pushing through the guards to go and greet an old friend.

"Put down your weapons you thugs! He's a friend!" I yelled as I jogged over, waving my arms in the air to get them to stop. Skidding to a halt in front of the water-dragon I wheeled around and waved Derrick over

"Hey Derrick! Get over here you big lug! It's Lock! And hey Nessie's here too!" Oh right. Time for a little explanation.

You see, once I had finished my training and set out on my own, I heard a rumour about a legendary water-dragon and dragged Derrick along with me for a little quality time and an adventure. That's where we met Lock, the Water dragon, and found out that the reason he was "harassing" the town that had been built on his lake was because they had been dumping their garbage into it. The Garbage had been polluting the lake and slowly killing its inhabitants, including the small group of mer-people living there, which is where Nessie (_or Nestralaene_) came into the picture. She and Lock had been best friends for as long as they could remember and then badda-bing-badda-boom, we teach the merchants a lesson, get a peace treaty signed and then there you have it, my first mission summed up. Kind of boring, I know.

"Chrys! Oh Chrys!" Nessie called down delightedly as I ran up with a grin on my face. Lock reached a large, (_shaking_) scaly, webbed paw down for me to hop onto. There were a few senseless shrieks of 'He's going to eat her!' as the water dragon lifted me to his nose. I encircled his great muzzle with my arms, not caring that it made me sopping wet, before hopping onto it to go and greet the mermaid.

Just then Derrick finally pushed his way through the crowd. I gave him a hand and then Humphrey. Sherry had flown over on her flying carpet.

"Sherry, Humphrey, I believe you remember Nessie and Lock? Well, Ella, this is the water dragon I told you about! Did you know that they're bringers of good fortune, riches etc, etc, I forget the rest. And this here is Nestralia of the…sorry, what is your tribe again?"

"The Leeroonwans."

"Right, them."

"Yeah, I remember something like that…you slapped me!" Derrick exclaimed, pointing at the mermaid.

"No that was me, you were flirting with her." I reminded him.

"Oh. Right, but-hey! Wait! I was NOT flirting with her." He replied, blushing a little.

"Yes you were." Nessie and I replied in unison. She was examining the nails on one hand absently,

"Well, you know what we're like, hate to miss a party!"

"I don't mind. W-why are they staring at me?" Lock moaned. Suddenly a solider tripped and his crossbow fired. The Water dragon let out a shriek of alarm and recoiled. I wind-milled my arms wildly and managed to grab one of his great horn-like things to stay on, however Nessie cried out as she lost her balance and fell off. Several of the guards rushed to catch the Beautiful mermaid, but collided with each other and fell in a heap with bumps on their heads. However, before she could hit the ground hard and injure herself, strange words whispered through the air, something glinted in the sunlight and a small whirlpool appeared below her and, at a further command, two bars of ice appeared under her hands. The mermaid grabbed them and held herself up, getting comfortable in the magically hovering whirlpool (which oddly enough didn't spin her around) and sighed in relief before blowing rather loudly at the dark blue strand of hair that had fallen down over her face.

"Thanks!" she said brightly to Sherry. The crowd took a step back as the exotic woman passed, paranoid looks on their pathetic faces as very loud whispers such as "Witch" and "Sorceress" passed through the people. I felt like screaming. Honestly. These people had no imagination, no tolerance and no LIVES! It was all I could do not to yell 'For crying out loud! Did you not notice the whole magic battle between her and the attention-seeking goth-girl? It's not like she's done anything to you…oh no wait there was that bit where she helped SAVE YOUR SORRY BEHINDS!' _**But**_, you can be proud of me. In spite of the numerous rather uncharitable thoughts running through my head, I kept my mouth shut. With considerable effort and at great injury to my teeth (_which were ground together so hard you could probably hear them across the courtyard_). Instead, I skipped over to the whirlpool and yelled at the top of my lungs

"CAN WE GET SOME KIND OF A POOL HERE PLEASE?" silence met my words and then more discontented mutterings. Oh well. Guess I'd always be the odd-ball. Sweet. Life was so much more fun my way. The mermaid and I shrugged and looked to Sherazade, who returned the gesture and snapped her fingers. The whirlpool and ice disappeared so that Nessie dropped onto a giant floating lily pad. Lock slinked over the rest of the wall and very sheepishly hung by the wall.

"It's okay Lock. My fault." Nessie told him when he came to apologise.

The Party resumed after that. I spent most of the time avoiding Blanche, and this annoying little merchant, and most of the nobles and…at least all of the obnoxious ones—which is most…okay, so I'm not too fond of most people in court. But it worked out well. Let's just say my significant other isn't too fond of those guys either (How he'll survive being king when he gets around to it, I'll never know) and we spent most of the party sitting on the wall talking, and then Sherazade, Humphrey and I taught him, my nephews and then when they sneaked over to us, Conrad and Ella some dance moves.

They were really good moves too. Humphrey, Sherry and I had spent the last month in the land of Snow way _way_ **WAY** up north, and we had some awesome stories to tell whilst we showed the royal relatives some of the Dances from Sherry's homeland in the south in the desert. Needless to say, she had not enjoyed the trip. We'd promised to go to a Jungle for our next adventure to appease her. However, while she'd despised the temperature, she had enjoyed the snow, which she called 'cold sand' and the adventures had been awesome! I recounted them with my partners to my nephews, much to their enjoyment

"…and then, a HUGE metal contraption appeared out of the Blizzard, controlled by Frost-Death! We were in trouble. Sherry was out cold, and my sword was frozen to the sheath! Humpfrey (_Okay, really lame name, I am aware, but it's not like I pick these villains names for them_) was trapped in the Igloo! I tell you, we would have been gonners if the Northern Light Pixies hadn't arrived in the nick of time and saved us! You see, old Frosty-bones was afraid of them and their magic. And that was that adventure." I finished. The Boys 'wowed' for a moment and then bombarded me with questions. Humphrey relieved me of them so that Derrick and I could have some time with each other, which I was grateful for (_Even if he **did** make me dance with him when the waltz played_). In general we had a good time. Humphrey even tried flirting with that pixie-like fairy godmother a couple more times and Sherry entertained the kids with a few simple tricks.

However, something was gnawing at me. Derek and I were good friends with Lock and Nessie, but why had they come all the way over here and out of the water? I mean, mermaids liked parties, but not _that_ much!

So that was why I weaseled my through to her lily pad past the small army of goo-goo-eyed men drooling over her to talk to the mermaid.

"So." I said, "You two came all the way over here, crossed three forests, two lakes and a valley to come to a party. Wow. What's up? Did the sugar-kelp machine break down?"

"Ah. You saw through me. Everyone is candy deprived."

"Ahhh man, and I _loved_ that stuff! I gotta tell you, sea-food will never taste the same again." I sighed "So what's really going on?"

The mermaid's expression grew serious and Lucinda joined us.

"There has been a rash of disappearances." She said in a low whisper. Lock had successfully scattered the eager (_and pathetically, hopelessly idiotic if they thought they actually stood a chance_) suitors.

"Where, how, who and why?" I asked

"Everywhere. Just disappeared. The sphinx, two unicorns, a wizard, one of the Northern Light Pixies, my brother the Mer-prince, 7 dwarves, 2 princes, 4 prin_cesses_, 1 queen and an old hermit." The mermaid said in answer to each of my questions.

"How long has this been going on? Who went first?"

"It started with the sphinx about 3 months ago. My brother disappeared three weeks ago. That's when Lock and I decided to come to you."

"Why don't I know about this already?" I wondered aloud indignantly "This is HUGE! I know most of those people! Oh no, which sprite was it? They had such spunk and--- wait a second I was at the land of snow a week ago, we had to rush home to make the naming ceremony!"

"The Northern Light is the most recent; we received news of it only 3 days ago. These people just disappear in the night, we don't know how. But we think someone from this Kingdom will be next, and we think we know who…"

*****SWITCH TO 3RD PERSON*******

The large clock began to ring out its midnight toll. A dark cloud loomed and descended from the sky, slinking in through the window and filling the chamber of the Queen. It knew that his Royal Majesty was out late at a meeting, but that suited the cloud just fine. It didn't want Conrad. It wanted his Queen! She lay in the bed with her blonde hair braided and across the pillow. She frowned and coughed, then started flashing as the smoke started to force her into a drugged sleep. Odd. None of the others had reacted like this…and no one had really expected _her_ to. Nevertheless, some of these royals always had a surprise up their sleeve…

Little did this one know just _how_ big a surprise this one had up her sleeve. For one thing, when the petit young woman was woken up by her gloating captor—he discovered that she had a mean left hook.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Alright, here's the next chapter. Sorry it took so long. I was busy studying for exams and completing final projects for the symester. I'll try not to take so long for the next one. BUT I would like a few more reviews, I'm taking, comments, concerns, suggestions and story ideas. I'm starting to come up with blanks again, so please help me out here! This story may depend on it.**_

_**Chapter 4**_

"She's waking up." Someone hissed by my ear. Oh _man_ did I have a splitting headache! I groaned a little, very much involuntarily.

"Good." Sneered another voice, "Let's see what little miss pretty has to offer." That voice got louder and I could smell rancid breath right in my face. I'd had a hangover once (enough to put me off alcohol until the end of time) but it was nothing compared to this. So I did exactly what I'd done that time I'd woken up with said hangover.

I threw a punch. It was very satisfying I must say, particularly to hear the crunch of bone and a cry of indignation and pain that came from stinky-breath. I opened my eyes at that point and bolted upright into a sitting position. Big mistake on my part. My stomach churned and my head spun, I'd be willing to bet that I turned a peculiar shade of green. One hand went to my spinning head and the other to my stomach, however, I still managed to take note of my surroundings.

I was in a very dark room without windows that was lighted by a rather vulgar and ugly looking chandelier hanging from the high ceiling. I was on the floor, still in my sister's nightdress. The guys surrounding me were dressed in dull grey armour. There was another one, not in any armour but in fine silks with a chancellor's gold chain around his neck was hoping around screaming through his hands, which were cupped around his nose. There was blood gushing down from under them and between the fingers.

"Ohw! OW! Wat duh WHELL was dat?" he yelled indignantly, "Estain 'er!" he yelled, however, it seemed that the others didn't understand what he was saying. Actually, neither did I at that point, we all exchanged frowns of confusion.

"Estain 'er! 'Estain 'er!" he yelled again. There was a general murmur of 'Oohhhh, _restrain_ her.' Before they turned on me. I jumped to my feet. Again, big mistake. It was not going to be pretty if I kept on doing this.

"I'm warning you." I said as menacingly as I could while holding back an intense wave of nausea "Don't touch me!"

"Ha! What are you going to do _your highness_?" one of them sneered "Projectile vomit at us?" another wave of intense nausea washed over me and this time I did gag, though nothing came up yet

"Don't." I said _un_sarcastically with a shake of my head, "Don't tempt me. What was _in_ that stuff? What I _drink_? Uhhhhh." I groaned

"Dou didn't drink endyfing." The wizard said as he took out his wand. We all gave him the same critical and confused expression and said "Huh?" he removed his other hand and I felt quite smug at my handiwork. His long, bloody and rapidly swelling nose was at a _marvellous_ angle. He tapped it with his glorified stick, making the swelling die down and the blood flow slow, though his nose was now crooked.

"Ahh. That's better. You didn't drink anything, my dear." He said smoothly

"Okay, lets get one thing straight," I said with more confidence then I felt at the moment (_**You**__ try feeling anything other then miserable when you feel like you have the flu_) "I'm nobody's **dear**." Suddenly his face fell

"Oh no." one of the guards moaned, "We've got the wrong one!"

"Say_ what_?" I asked. Hmmn. A smart guard. This I hadn't counted on, or expected for that matter. Actually, it was kind of sad that he figured it out before the Wizard, who was supposedly intelligent in order to have past the trials and mastered the spells in order to become a magic user. Then again, he was probably a magic-school drop-out who thought he could do more.

"What is your name?" he growled

"You first!" I snapped when another unpleasant lurch racked my stomach, sending my hand flying to cover my mouth "Uh-oh…in a minute…no wait, never mind I'm good." I groaned, again managing to swallow it. Not pleasant "So…what d'you mean?" I continued, feigning surprise rather poorly.

"Great, I knew she had a sister, I didn't know the sister looked like her!" the Wizard moaned. I snorted and gave up the pretext. They knew I wasn't Ella. I guess our similarities are mostly skin deep.

"Alright, seriously, if you're going to abduct someone at least do a thorough background check first!" I tell them.

"What's there to know?" One of the lackeys asked, "She's rich, she's beautiful, she's a queen!"

"Okay, One: stop drooling over my sister. Two: What the blazes is going on?"

"As if we would tell you." The Wizard scoffed "Well, it's a shame she isn't the queen, but heroes work too. Boys, take her to the dungeon. Make sure it's nice and scary."

"Hey bub, you're dealing with a professional, remember? And I am NOT going until I have some answers." I snapped, adrenaline kicking in and overriding any last nausea I still felt as I crouched into a fighting stance.

"Yes, you will." The annoying little Magician replied. He snapped his fingers and the guard closest to me whipped out some kind of strange sphere. He pressed it and gas came out. I knew enough to hold my breath, but they barred the door and were holding cloths dipped in something over their mouths. My screaming lungs won and I inhaled the stuff, immediately noticing my vision blur and my knees go weak.

"You cowardly son of a…" Unfortunately I didn't get to finish my insult, for I hit the stone floor hard.

_**DERRICK'S POV**_

Derrick awoke to a strange smell during the night. Something wasn't right. He bolted into a sitting position and sniffed the air, keeping an ear out as well. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but no, something was wrong. He wasn't sure what, but he just knew it. With narrowed eyes he reached for his scabbard and belt, pulling it around his torso. HE had to synch it a little tighter than normal since the comfortable black cotton pants he slept in didn't have any belt loops. Quietly, he slinked out of his room, not bothering to put a shirt. His first thought was about his nephews and niece, after all children were so vulnerable and young princes and princesses were always targets. However, as he passed the hall with his sister's room he saw something that made him stop in his tracks. There was some kind of eyrie light within the room and something that sounded strange, a sort of whooshing sound. The smell was the same as had woken him up too.

Immediately he called the one thing that would be guaranteed to wake everyone up,

"FIRE! FIRE IN THE QUEEN'S ROOM!" okay, so a bit of a fib, but there _was_ smoke coming out now. He kicked in the door just in time to see a strange little man floating in the air by the window controlling the strange black mist that gripped the young woman and was levitating her off the bed.

Derrick's eyes widened as he recognised the petite young woman with her blonde hair braided and swinging slightly. He let out a snarl of rage as he lunged for her, hitting the stone floor hard as he missed.

"NO!" He cried, slamming himself onto the window ledge and leaning out with his hands stretching as far as they could and grasping nothing but air. The Guards arrived characteristically late. Right behind them was the King, and to the Guard's surprise (but not Derrick'), the Queen, who was tying the sash of her dressing gown closed as she arrived with her husband.

"What's happened?" Eleanor asked

"What do you think?" her cousin-in-law snapped as he charged off, "Where's that Witch? Maybe she can lend me her carpet!"

"We're right here." Said a voice with a heavy Lockland Accent (_**A.N: AKA Scottish Accent) **_"And Sherry is a little busy at the moment."

"What is going on?" Conrad demanded "I insist that you tell me this instant!" They all moved as a sort stampede past the Dwarf and into one of the many Drawing rooms. Inside were Sherazade and Lucinda. The Exotic Witch was floating in mid air in a sitting position, a crystal ball was hovering in front of her. Several of her charms were glowing. Lucinda was standing next to her and gazing into the sphere.

"Where is she?" Derrick stormed, getting right up in the Godmother's face "Where's Chrystal?"

"Shh!" The Godmother hissed "She needs to concentrate. Come with me." She pulled him outside the room and shut the door

"Alright, what the-" the Prince stopped and looked over to a large potted fern where two little boys were crouched behind and stopped himself from swearing with considerable effort, "What the _fudge_ is going on?"

"Look Laddy," Humphrey began, "Firstly, calm down, let us explain a few things."

"Get on with it then _Dwarf_."

"A'right a'righ. Look, for the past few months there has been a rash of disappearances from all across the world. Magical creatures, Royalty, Heroes, you name it. We had reason to believe that this kingdom would be next on the list, specifically one of the Royal Family such as the Queen or one of the Princes, or even the baby Princess." Lucinda continued. Ella gasped

"So that's why she wanted us to take the room next to the childrens'!"

"Aye." Humphrey nodded "And why she took your normal suite yer 'ighness."

"So you used her as _bait_?" Derrick fumed

"Bait is such a _strong_ word…" Lucinda began

"Besides, it was her turn." The Dwarf added

"_And_ her idea, not to mention _her_ decision." Lucinda put in. "You see, we—meaning the Magic Counsel—are trying to track this thing that's been doing all of this abducting, and we could use an operative from the inside. Chrys is a big girl Derrick. She knows how to take care of herself."

"But we don't know what kind of a madman we're dealing with! For all we know, he could be sacrificing people to a dragon or something!" Ella exclaimed

"As overdramatic as that may be, my cousin is right! We have no idea what they could be doing to her!" the Prince cried

"Laddy, it's not like she hasn't done this before." Humphrey said "I remember one time she got herself captured by this--" he stopped at the Godmother's warning glare, "Oh right. That was one of the one's I'm _not_ supposed to tell."

Just then Sherazade appeared at the door.

"I got as far as the High Mountain Pass before I hit a magic scrambler. I cannot track them any further."

"Just what does that mean?" Conrad asked

"It means, that we have no idea where she is." The Witch replied

"Oh no. You were right Sherazade. I'm sorry." Lucinda breathed

"Wait, just because I couldn't continue tracking the magic, doesn't mean we can't find her at all." The dark-skinned woman pointed out. She looked over at Derrick, "We could always go on a quest, that act in itself has a certain amount of subtle magic behind it by very way of Tradition."

"Hold on a second." Chrys's boyfriend exclaimed "Are you telling me that Chrys has become a damsel in distress and you want **me** to go rescue **her**? Talk about a twist. I'm in though."

"Hey, you aren't leavin' us behind!" The Dwarf exclaimed, "She's our partner, after all."

"You comin?" they asked Lucinda.

"I cannot. My roll is to assist when most needed. However, I can start you off on your noble journey." Said the beautiful Fairy Godmother, much to the exasperation of the worried boyfriend. Upon seeing his face, she waved her wand in a tight circle. Golden sparks issued from the tip and gathered together, forming some kind of object which she lowered into the Prince's outstretched hand. He stared down at the small object he was holding and frowned. However, when he looked up for conformation, Lucinda was already glowing and fading away as she magically transported herself out of the Castle. Sherry rolled her eyes at this

"Drama Queen." She muttered.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Okay, I know. It took me a long time to update. As I warned before, I hit a bit of writer's block, combined with a busy scheduele. HOwever, the review count for the last chapter was also a little disapointing. A great big hug and thankyou to my two reviewers, you guys are the best. **_

**_ So, I'm going to ask for maybe three reviews this time? I don't think that's too much to ask. Questions, comments, suggestions, concerns, etc are all welcome._**

_**Chapter 5**_

The second time I woke up, the memory flood-back was instantaneous and I'm afraid I reacted rather…rashly. Someone yelped and another cried out in pain as foot rammed into a shin and my fist came in contact with an eye. Yes, I know, there's a pattern here. What can I say? Humphrey and Sherry know to let the rug wake me up if they need to, and _nobody _who knows what's good for them shakes me to wake me up. I have a habit of lashing out, it's an automatic reaction.

"Easy, Chrystal, easy, Please stop trying to hit people!" A vaguely familiar voice said in my ear. I groaned and opened my eyes blearily. Hovering in front of my face was a small blue glow. Upon squinting, I saw a pretty, if pointy face inches from mine. It moved back a little so that I could see it came with a tiny little body as well, it was Twinkle, one of the Northern Light-Sprites. Her skin was a golden colour, shiny and somewhat angular, making her look like a human-shaped piece of topaz—which she sort of is, in that she uses her body somewhat like a prism to reflect, refract and shimmer the light that she generated, making the beautifully coloured patterns in the sky with her siblings that are so beautiful in the North.

"Twinkie?" I asked, using her nick-name as I started to sit up. I was lying on what appeared to be a bunch of rags, cushions and blankets inside a large, chilly stone chamber that had the remains of a tapestry or lining or something around with the long chestnut threads still hung around it.

"Oh Good, you recognise me!" She sighed in relief

"Course I recognise you…uh oh! Excuse me!" This time the cookies **did** get tossed. Violently. Someone, namely a small sprite, came behind me and pulled my hair back for me. _How embarrassing!_ Was the thought that kept running through my head, that and several rather uncharitable thoughts towards several people and a variety of rather satisfying (if potentially impossible) plans for exacting vengeance upon those _idiots_. Oh, they were going to pay. With interest.

"Ugghhhh…clean-up in dungeon twelve!" were the words that actually ended up coming out of my mouth.

"Don't worry about it." Another vaguely familiar voice rather smugly, "You only reacted the most drastically to this stuff so far, must have the immune system of a woman." This one I wasn't so fond of.

"Oh Joy. The glee club's assembled." Was my retort as I stood and squared my shoulders, "Actually, I'm surprised you're here, _Perky_. Sprites, Royalty, Heroes, I thought it the rich and/or _**successful**_ people this bozo was snatching."

"Ha, ha, ha. Still as grumpy as ever, I see. This is what happens to a woman who needs a man." A guy standing to my right said snidely.

"Oww, is widdle Perky still sour about all those fights _I_ won?" I didn't bother pointing out that not only did I have a boyfriend and that I _was_ a woman but that on average women were healthier then men. My jibe related to our time at training got to him, like I knew it would. Percival and I attended the same Hero school, along with Humphrey. Now I know what you're thinking, _Hero_ _school_? You're kidding right? Well, it is true that Heroes are just people who find that hard/dangerous times bring out the best rather then the worst in them, etc, etc. But what I'm talking about is an institution for people like me, who are going into it for a career…or for rich stuck-ups like Percival who just want to nab a hottie and marry into royalty (_that's right, just to get something straight, he is not royalty, despite what he'd like us to believe. His father is some minor noble who claims to be the second cousin of their king, __**yeah**__. __**Sure**__.)_

"Pah!" Percival scoffed, "I beat you all the time."

"Yeah, if you think that 2 times out of 10 is 'all the time_'_ then _sure_ you did." I retorted. As Percival opened his mouth to reply Twinkle fluttered between us.

"Okay, you're clearly a little feeling better now…" she said a little nervously. She doesn't particularly like confrontation.

"Well, a professional always bounces back." I tell her, still glaring at the pain-in-your-butt that I thought I'd never have to tolerate ever again.

"You don't exactly look like a professional right now." He sneered. I finally noticed what I was wearing. Oh. No wonder it was so chilly. I was still wearing my sister's thin silk night-gown.

"Is there anything that I can change out of?" I asked Twinkle.

"Well…actually there is. But you're not going to like it." She said, taking a side-long glance at the folded material beside the cluster of blanket and cushions I had been laying on. It was with trepidation that she lifted it up by the neck and flew upwards so that I could get a general idea of what it looked like.

"Oh no. No…_no_." I groaned. Then again, it was that, or stay in the nightgown…A growl rumbled through my throat as I snatched the dress from her "The things I do for my family. Ohh, these guys are gonna pay……" at that point I noticed the other people in the room. The first thing I noticed was that there was a lot of them---and they were all staring at me expectantly

"I'm not changing in front of all you guys!" I exclaimed before muttering "Ew, wash your _minds_ out with soap."

"It's okay, there's a lavatory." Twinkle said, pointing me in the right direction. I closed the door and started changing. However, it took me a while to come out. After a few minutes, there was a knock on the door

"Chrys, are you alright in there?" The Sprite asked from the other side

"I am _**not**_ coming out in this. I look like an idiot!" I called out, crossing my arms stubbornly

"Stop acting like a child and get out here! People need to use the washroom!" was the reply

"Oh, I'm not behaving like a child. When I was a kid, I dressed in these-these _tents_ willingly!" It's true. My dark secret. I loved pretty dresses when I was little. I even experimented with make up once or twice, but that was before my Stepmother started to come into the picture.

"Just get out here already!" someone else snapped

"Fine! But no one laughs _or_ _else_." I growled as I inched out crossly, my arms crossed and my jaw set angrily. I looked _ridiculous_. It was as bad as Lucinda's first attempt at a dress that first Ball-night! Ruffles, frills, a skirt that belled out like a giant sphere with a hole in the bottom! And to top it off, the thing was the most hideous combination of Bright pink, scarlet red and neon orange. Can you spell _walking_ _target_?

Then it happened. That idiot started laughing

"Shut it Percival, or I play bonesetter and break a few of yours." I said through clenched teeth, advancing on him. A sharp tug at my hair made me yelp and spin around. Twinkle was scowling at me with her tiny fists on her hips. My nostrils flared angrily, but I regained control of myself. She Was right. Now was not the time to let anger or pride get the better of me. Just because I wore a dress didn't make me any less capable or intelligent then someone in pants. Wasn't that a portion of what I had been trying to prove anyway? Taking a deep breath and counting to ten I looked around the room I was in and took a good long look at a few of my fellow inmates. In this chamber alone there was me, Twinkle and Percy obviously, but also a beautiful unicorn, a guy in a clanking metal suit of armour and 2 young women. One of them was dressed very elegantly, decked with jewels and was sitting by herself, her nose in the air disdainfully and snobbishly. I resisted the urge to judge and took a look at the other woman apart from myself. At that point I realized that the chestnut threads around the room were not only _not_ the remainder of a tapestry/lining or whatever, but not even thread. It was this girl's hair.

"Okay." I sighed, surveying the room with an even more critical eye "Any of you tried to get out yet?"

"Yes, the fortress is impregnable." Percy said arrogantly

"Well what did you try?" I asked in an overly polite tone. He told me all about his daring escapade out the window and _ooh_, two feet down the tower via the bricks that stuck out. It then got exciting when he described how he nearly fell and eventually had to climb back up into the tower when the Black cloud returned.

"That's it?" I asked anticlimactically. "You climbed out the window? Tell me something, was ladderlocks here at the time? _Please_ tell me she wasn't."

"In his defence, she was unconscious at the time." Twinkle offered

"Fine, but then why not wait until after she was awake then use the hair to climb down? It would get you most of the way anyhow!" I pointed out

"I think not!" The Rust Bucket exclaimed imperiously, "I certainly would not leave a lady in distress behind!"

"Who said anything about leaving her behind?" I asked him, "I'm in the hero business, remember? I'd loose my reputation and possibly my licence if I lived by the policy of 'Look out for number one', and that's just not good business."

"But……how would you get out by my hair if I were not inside the tower?" she asked somewhat thickly. I decided not to judge and give her the benefit of the doubt

"One word honey: _Haircut_. It would have to happen once we got down there anyway." At her whimper I felt my temper rise but kept it in check and thought instead about how this would affect the girl. I'd seen stuff like this before, a pretty generic story. A Witch or Wizard would take a girl from her parents as an infant, never allow scissors to touch the hair and on top of that feed them any number of herb/potions that made the hair grow. Then they'd stick the girl in a tower and give her some kind of a password that only the captor knew. Typical insecurity complex on behalf of the Witch/Wizard or even on occasion unstable parent who had hired the services of the former, considering that the girl in question only ever saw them every day when they checked in. It was a lonely existence, we'd been warned about this kind of thing in our Hero classes. These girls were often very unstable, not to mention liable to fall head-over-heels for the first person other then their "parent" that came along, regardless of, well, _anything_. There was also a high suicide rate and attachment to the hair. I felt bad at that point and softened

"Look," I said gently as I sat next to her, "Sorry, if I was a little callus. But we have to be practical. You can't exactly run very quickly if you're dragging 60 odd feet of hair with you." She looked up at me with teary eyes the same chestnut brown colour of her hair, "Besides, you can keep it long, just not _as_ long." At least she seemed to think about the idea. I clapped my hands together and rubbed them

"Okay, let's get thinking." I said "We got a plot to uncover, an escape to plot and some recon to do, who's in?"

**_Okay, Next chapter you guys get to see how Derrick is doing...You didn't think he'd get an easy time did you?_**

**_ Now PLEASE review! The button is right there and dying to be pressed!_**


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